Aperture 2 Released
Apple has released Aperture 2.0 and I just got done taking it for a spin. Here are some thoughts:
- Interface has changed for the better. A bit less cluttered and the filmstrip option for thumbnails is nice. Someone at Apple has been using Lightroom I guess. Imagine that - a better interface through user testing. Who would have thought it. But that's a whole other post regarding Apple's smug behavior towards it's users base (And yet we can't get enough it seems - strange).
- Quick Preview. Press the "P" key and Aperture will only display jpeg previews - HUGE improvement. Great for doing the initial cut of a batch import without waiting for RAW render. Click "P" again to change back.
- Editing Plug-ins. Developer's Kit is not out there yet but this could be the best change they have made - If third parties write plug-ins. I have not purchased PS CS3 and don't ever want to if I can get the job done in one app. Why is that so hard? Selective/local edits in Aperture with layers and masks and all the other cool stuff you can do with PS plug-ins. I am afraid we'll have to wait to see if there is broad support from developers.
- DNG import. Better support for RAW DNG so you can pass your files through Adobe's DNG convertor and then into Aperture. Helps with the issue Apple has because RAW support is embedded in OS X and slow to update for new camera models. Still no option that I can see to convert to DNG on import within Aperture. Perhaps 2.5.
- New RAW engine. Or just improved I guess. Didn't play with it long enough to make a judgement. And never bought into the whole ACR, Capture One, blah blah is better argument much anyway. Visual is perceptual I guess. And if you are seeing artifacts stop looking with a magnifying glass and see if that fixes it. Hehe..anyway, it's all supposed to be better in 2.0.
Try it out yourself:
I am really curious to see how these 2 match up now... I have been using Lightroom since it's development days, even though there were aspects of Aperture I liked better (integration with other Apple iApps, book making, tie-in with .Mac, etc); plus, I couldn't bring myself to buy Aperture at the v.1 stage when I had a free copy of Lightroom from Adobe for my contributions.
I wish the trial period for Aperture was a bit longer... I think it can take a while to get the groove of software like this that requires you to adjust your workflow to fit the software's capabilities. I tried to use the Aperture trial from the previous version and I had a hard time figuring out where to click and what to do. Lightroom seemed a bit more intuitive at the time.
However, one of my biggest pet peeves with Lightroom at the moment is that it still doesn't handle JPEGs well. Ever tried to run Auto-Tone on a JPEG... ugly! I don't know why that can't work like Auto Levels in PS, which almost always is pretty close. Auto-Tone only seems to work on RAW files, but even then I think it's kind of half-@$$ed. I know RAW files are better and blah, blah, blah, but I don't have the storage capacity for 500 RAW files per sporting event. (And with a 1DIII in my future, that number isn't exactly going down!)
My previous biggest pet peeve with Lightroom was that I couldn't upload directly from the software to my 3rd party photo gallery... I had to export copies and then upload those, which totally defeated the purpose of the software (no more duplicate files). But I found a plug-in some guy made that uploads to Smugmug now without requiring me to export dupes.
Another thing that irks me about LR is that it doesn't handle virtual copies as seamlessly as Aperture seems to. If I have my photos separated into Collections in LR, and I am editing within that collection and I try to make a VC, the VC doesn't automatically show up in the collection. I have to go track it down in the full library and then drag it into the collection. As a result, I have made little use of VCs.
I pretty much just use Library & Develop in LR... I never use Slideshow, I occasionally use Print, and I have never used Web because I just use Smugmug. I keep thinking one day I might use it to create a new portfolio site, but it's like the cobbler's kid... my website goes un-updated because I am too busy with working on sites for others!